Seeing lots of tweets on the "decline" of history as in the US measured in terms of (i) fewer students; (ii) fewer faculty positions; (iii) perceptions that it is not good for job prospects.
This seems to be the case but it is puzzling from a non-US perspective. In the UK, history was (and is?) seen as one of the best degrees for entering high powered jobs in law and politics.
The degree of the recent and longest-serving Chancellor was in history (George Osborne) & I know many people history degrees or masters in econ history who have gone on to high powered jobs.
So what distinguishes the US case? Possible candidates (1) declining emphasis on analytical skills of text analysis (something ancient & medieval historians had to excel in); (2) rise of cultural history (postmodernism); and (3) relatively the neglect of basic quantitative skills
All of these developments have gone further in the US than the UK. All (3) are part of the politicization of history (whereby historians see their primary goal as mobilizing students against injustice rather than as advancing scholarship).
At the same time, academic historians have vacated space to popular history and podcasts which satisfies the public demand for exciting narratives (and military history).
But it doesn't have to be this way. I read some truly fantastic & highly accessible yet scholarly history books in 2017. medium.com/@MarkKoyama/bo…
